5 days post-op with questions:)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I am 5 days post op to upper jaw surg. I have a splint,not banded or

wired. I went through my depression...ahhh

I have no congestion, and drink fine from a cup.

I am nervous when looking at my upper teeth and seeing that the

midline between my front teeth are not centered with my face(nose)

It looks like they are shifted to the side...did anyone else ever

have this???I am so upset to think I went through all of this for a

bad bite.

Also,I have read people use heat for swelling??? I was told to only

use ice. I was so swollen the doctor said he has never seen anyone

look this swollen. It has gone done some but not enough that I

could go in public. Should I use heat??

I can't believe I did this to myself:(

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My surgeon said that ice is only useful at the time of the injury

(ie - your surgery). I used it for two days in the hospital anyway,

changing the bags of ice every 3-4 hours. He said no to heat - it

only draws more blood to the affected areas and can cause more

swelling. So I did not use ice or heat once I left hospital.

I did have manual lymph drainage (MLD) therapy which was very

successful at reducing my swelling quickly. You can read more about

this on the info website at

http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/ - click on MLD Therapy in

the lefthand listing of links.

I'm coming up on 5 weeks post-op this Tuesday from upper/lower/genio,

and have no noticeable swelling. I do have some jowls on my neck, but

I had them pre-op, they are just more noticeable now.

Hang in there - you are through the worst of it, and things will get

better.

Hope that helps,

[Guest guest]

:

So sorry you are so swollen. I didn't use ice (too zoinked out to

ask at the hospital & the nurses were to lame to give me any) until I

got home the night after surgery then I switched to heat around the

4th day. My doc says ice for the first 48 hours than heat

afterwards. He says it makes blood circulate better through the skin

& promotes the healing process. I was sooo swollen & as soon as I

started using the heat it started going down. I'd take off the heat

packs & could see a difference every time. If you check out my pics

(under ga_1962) you can see how swollen I was at 5 days & believe me,

that was an improvement. But ask your doc because different ones

have different time schedules for the ice & heat. Always go by what

your doc says, you definitely don't want to tick him off. But don't

feel like you have to wait for an appt. Just pick up the phone & put

a call in to his office.

My mid-line drifted after a couple of months. Don't panic, the

ortho has all sorts of tricks to fix things. Mine is back to perfect

again. But do let your surgeon know.

Now go call your doc about the heat & mid-line. Don't worry,

you're paying for this. If you've got a question, call. (yes, you

can call on the weekend) Plus, my doc put on the hospital release

papers for me to call if I thought my bite was changing. Use that as

an excuse to call & ask him about the swelling while you've got him

on the line.

Good luck,

Georgia

> Hi,

> I am 5 days post op to upper jaw surg. I have a splint,not banded

or

> wired. I went through my depression...ahhh

> I have no congestion, and drink fine from a cup.

> I am nervous when looking at my upper teeth and seeing that the

> midline between my front teeth are not centered with my face(nose)

> It looks like they are shifted to the side...did anyone else ever

> have this???I am so upset to think I went through all of this for a

> bad bite.

> Also,I have read people use heat for swelling??? I was told to

only

> use ice. I was so swollen the doctor said he has never seen anyone

> look this swollen. It has gone done some but not enough that I

> could go in public. Should I use heat??

> I can't believe I did this to myself:(

> Thanks

>